MINNEAPOLIS -- As a long-time hitting coach, new Twins manager Derek Shelton knows hitting. In his words, he’s passionate about hitting.
So, he wasn’t going to take the choice of a hitting coach on his new staff lightly. Enter Keith Beauregard, most recently of the Tigers. Beauregard will work with Shelton and returning assistant hitting coaches Trevor Amicone and Rayden Sierra to reignite a Twins attack that fell from fourth in the American League in runs in 2024 to 10th in 2025.
“The thing that excites me the most about Keith is his energy,” Shelton said Monday on a video conference to introduce some of his staff. “The passion that he has for hitting. His ability to break down the swing, his ability to relate to people is elite. And again, start talking to people, especially people that I trust very closely, and his name was the first one that came to mind, including with players.”
Beauregard comes with some solid bona fides and a resume that appears to be a good fit for Minnesota’s lineup. He helped oversee the emergence of a core of young hitters in Detroit, a group that was central to the Tigers’ rise over the past two seasons.
In particular, Riley Greene emerged as a star over the past two years, Spencer Torkelson turned in the best year of his career in 2025 and Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter became dangerous contributors to a lineup that finished fifth in the league in runs.
Now, Beauregard will look to unlock the potential in players like Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Matt Wallner, and aid in the development of a next wave of young hitters like Luke Keaschall and hopefully incoming prospects like Walker Jenkins (the Twins’ No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline and No. 10 overall), Kaelen Culpepper (No. 2, No. 52) and Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 4, No. 69). Beauregard is excited for the opportunity.
“My belief is to meet guys where they’re at individually and speak their language,” he said. “We look at the lineup, [and] this group is filled with dogs. You’ve got some guys that have high levels of zone control, some have the ability to damage, those type of profiles, and others have elite contact skills. So, our goal as a staff is to help these guys identify and build a profile that matches who they are. Give them clarity, and by doing that it allows them to block some of the noise and be ultra confident in their process.”
Coaching hitters has always been a challenge. It’s not just mechanics. It’s not just approach. It’s not just mindset. It’s all of them, in different degrees with different players.
It’s gotten even more difficult in recent years, as more and more players have personal hitting coaches outside the organization. They can receive hitting instruction through their agency in some cases, or a trusted figure they’ve worked with for years.
However it happens, it’s an extra voice or set of voices in a hitter’s ear. Beauregard embraces that challenge.
“I lean in on it,” he said. “Some of these guys have had relationships with the players, and players have relationships with these people longer than I have. I recognize that, and I totally respect it. My job is to understand the player and what terminology and what cues they use and incorporate their language into their learning environment every day.”